Consumer protections

A Northwest Iowa legislator may have mistakenly released the Republican Party of Iowa’s secret plan to “fix” the Medicaid privatization mess. During a forum, State Senator Jim Carlin of Sioux City proposed rationing health care for Medicaid recipients, saying lawmakers should “look into limiting the number of doctor visits” by people on Medicaid.

“We all know for-profit Medicaid has been a disaster for Iowa families and health care providers,” said Jochum. “I believe it has also been a disaster for the state budget. Governor Reynolds, I look forward to a public review of the hundreds of millions of dollars Iowa has spent on privatized Medicaid and the reforms that will start fixing Iowa’s Medicaid mess.”

This session, we heard from thousands of Iowans who work hard but struggle to get by. They just want a decent-paying job and the chance to lead a happy, healthy life. Our job in the Legislature is to listen and work to improve the lives of everyday Iowans.

Every worker deserves a secure retirement. That includes the hundreds of thousands of Iowans who contribute part of each paycheck to one of our state’s public retirement systems. Iowa’s public retirement systems are well managed and fiscally sound. However, under Republicans, those funds could be at risk.